Donley Concludes Term as President of Association for Continuing Dental Education
Deedra Donley, director of the Adams School of Dentistry’s Continuing Education Program, has completed her term as president of the Association for Continuing Dental Education (ACDE) Board of Directors. Donley served an additional year as president in order to preserve stability during the pandemic.
Donley was elected secretary of the ACDE Board of Directors in 2016 and has served the board for the last five years in the national leadership role. She continues to be actively involved as a member and as past-president.
During her tenure, she and her team launched the ACDE’s new website and addressed the organization’s top projects as a result of the 2019 annual meeting. When dental schools transitioned to virtual learning in early 2020, she and her colleagues initiated a unique partnership between 31 member schools and the ACDE to offer live webinars.
The webinar series features university-based key opinion leaders and presentations on numerous topics. Due to the partnership of schools across the country, ACDE was able to offer courses on an array of dates and times, which allowed dental professionals to take advantage of the courses that best fit their schedules and needs.
“When the pandemic hit, I realized that most dental schools were working remotely and live, in person CE was almost non-existent,” said Donley. “This collaboration allowed CE offices of all sizes from the US and Canada to offer presentations that might not have been available or affordable if we were providing these presentations as individual schools.”
“It is thanks to the commitment of our ACDE members and the dental professionals we work with and for every day. This is why I am so proud to be a member of this organization and to have served as president.”
The Association for Continuing Dental Education brings together individuals representing college- and university-based continuing dental education programs associated with accredited Dental Schools in Canada and the United States, including Puerto Rico to create opportunities for leadership, collaboration, and development for university-based continuing dental education professionals, and to promote the highest quality of continuing dental education.